"I had been saying since before the season that my goal was to make my first appearance in the first team, so I think I was able to achieve that and have had a year where I was able to gain a lot of experience and learn a lot."

Oto Hayasaka, a second-year high school graduate with Lotte, pitched in nine games, including his official regular season debut, and this season was a great opportunity for him to gain experience.

In preparation for 2025, he worked hard on his voluntary off-season training, saying, "I think I focused on building my physique, especially weight training and gaining weight."

Regarding the Ishigaki Island spring camp, he said, "I think I'm concentrating on myself and working on my own challenges. Specifically, I'm trying to improve my form by practicing linear movements." He faced his own challenges and even after the team practice he spent a long time practicing "linear movements" in the indoor training facility.

"Now that we're in training camp, I'm playing in front of so many people watching, and I think there will be more people, so I hope I can do it," he said. "When I was with the farm team, there was no outfield. Even with that number of people, I thought it would be a big event, so I'm curious to see what it would be like with even more people in attendance," he said, expressing his desire to take mound at Zozo Marine Stadium, the team's home ground.

After the launch of the Ishigaki Island spring camp, he joined the Miyako camp. He spent the opening at the farm, but on May 11, he achieved his first professional promotion. After making his first professional appearance in the Seibu Lions game on the same day, he took the mound in the 8th inning of 0-4 in the Rakuten Eagles game on the 14th of the same month, which was his second professional appearance, and finished off the lead pinch hitter Yuya Ogo with a fastball of 148 kg, and then Daisuke Nakashima a grounder of 149 fastball kg with a second baseman grounder, and finally Ryosuke Tatsumi second baseman grounder with a 149 kg fastball, and 1 inning cleared by three people.

Two days after this appearance, on May 16th, he was removed from the first-team roster. Regarding the issues and gains he felt after pitching in the first team, Hayasaka revealed, "I think my fastball is my weapon, but it was also hit hard in front of me, so I think that's an area where I still need to practice and improve."

"Rather than focusing on small details like Walk or first baseman hitter, I focus on the simple but difficult aspects of being a pitcher, like reducing Walk and getting the first strike, and I try to closer the score at zero."

In a game against Rakuten Eagles second-division team on May 25th, he threw 10 pitches per inning, and in a game against The Giants second-division team on May 28th, he threw just 9 pitches per inning. "It would be fine if I could finish with a low pitch count, but I'd also like to try throwing breaking ball in various situations.Until now, I've been throwing straight balls, so I'd like to try those kinds of things as well," he said.During this period, he often closer a low pitch count.

He threw fewer Walk, and although he only threw 37 pitches in the two inning he pitched in the DeNA minor league game on June 10th, he threw 23 pitches in the second innings in the Seibu minor league game on June 22nd, 19 pitches in the second innings in Rakuten minor league game on July 2nd, 27 pitches in the second innings in the Yakult minor league game on July 5th, and 26 pitches in the second innings in the Nippon-Ham minor league game on July 8th, closer the number of pitches low.

Regarding the reason for the decrease Walk he explained, "Until now, when I threw a ball, I would be dragging along an afterimage or an image of that ball, and things would go in a bad direction, but I think things are going in a good direction now because I've been able to change my mindset and, even if I walk Walk, I'm ready to give it a good go with the next batter."

On the farm, most of the pitches he threw in the second inning, but in the first inning, he said, "I want to improve my fastball as a strength, so I talk to catcher about competing with fastball," he said, adding that the fastball-based pitch will be played on July 2 inning in the Rakuten 2nd Army. He threw 12 of 14 pitches fastball in the seventh inning, and all nine of his pitches were fastball in the sixth inning of the first inning against the Yakult Twins on July 5.

breaking ball However, he was able to strike out with fork, and he said, "Lately, I think I've been able to get count consistently," and also slider, "I think I'm getting better at striking out and getting count," and he is now able to throw with a good feel.

After being demoted, he pitched in 8 games and 12 2/3 innings for the farm team, with ERA of 0.71, 7 hits hit, 10 strike out, and 3 BB. He was pitch again on July 11th with confidence, saying, "In terms of numbers, my ERA has gone down, and I'm not getting hit in succession as much recently. The same goes for breaking ball. It's not dramatic, but I think I'm getting better little by little."

◆ mound at Zozo Marine Stadium

In his first appearance after being promoted again on July 12th against Seibu, he said, "It was mound where I pitched in high school, so one of my goals was to return there. I was able to achieve that, so I'm glad I was able to achieve one of my goals." It was his first time on mound at Zozo Marine Stadium in an regular season.

As a student, he was a The Marines fan and cheered on the players from the stands, but now he is the one being cheered on. "When my name was called, the fans cheered me on from the stands, so I was really happy," he recalls.

In the ninth inning of 0-5, Seiya Watanabe was hit twice, Shinya Hasegawa was left and Yuto Koga was right, and closer the first inning to a three-way strike with only 10 pitches.

In the following Softbank game on July 15th, he closer runs no in the sixth inning of 2-6, which was the first inning, but gave up four runs in the seventh inning of the second inning. Still, the 149 km in-course fastball he threw on the first pitch of Ukyo Shuto without a 2-6 inning with one out and one runner, and the 140 km outside angle of the first pitch that took a swing from Tatsuru Yanagimachi in the 6th inning of 2-6 with one out and one base, fork was good.

Regarding pitch in the game against Softbank on July 15th, Hayasaka reflected, "I think I was able to properly display the power of my fork, but in the game against The Hawks, I couldn't finish my forkball at the end, so they targeted my fastball, and I ended up getting into a bad count and walking Walk realized once again that I need to practice those kinds of things."

After being promoted again, he pitched in six games, but was removed from the first-team roster on August 12. After that, he pitched in four games in the farm team, but did not pitch again after the game against Yakult second-team on September 7.

After gaining experience this year, has the direction become clear?

"I injured my back in the second half of this year, so my first priority is to make a full recovery from that. But during the period of rest, which is still the case now, when I'm able to move again, I want to first get my body back in shape, and during the off-season, I think my top priority is to build up a body that can fight for a whole year."

Next season, I would like to make good use of this experience on the first team mound.

Interview and text by Yuta Iwashita